Earlier this month, Rebecca Holcombe, Vermont’s Secretary of Education, sent a letter to all Vermont principals and superintendents about how important it is to ensure that every Vermont child feels safe and valued in the school.
U-32 takes pride in making sure everyone here in the building feels welcome. The administration took one of the staff bathrooms and turned it into a gender neutral bathroom.
The new gender neutral bathroom has been open for the past several weeks and principal Steven Dellinger-Pate said that so far we have had no complaints from the students or staff in the building. Steven also says they chose one of the staff bathrooms in the atrium because it was a center point of the building, being easily accessible.
Students are saying it is a good idea because individuals who are transgender need to feel as comfortable as others when using the bathroom. Others have said that there is no reason for new bathrooms to come into place because there are already two neutral, single-use bathrooms in the short hallway going from the tech ed room and woodshop into the cafeteria. Others have said it really doesn’t matter as long as everyone in the school feels safe and welcome.
North Carolina just passed a new law that requires people to go into a male or female bathroom according to the sex marked on your birth certificate.
Denise Dalmasse, one of the English teachers at U-32, said “I think it is silly to make such a big deal over something not that important. If someone doesn’t feel comfortable going into a certain bathroom then what is the big deal? Shouldn’t people be able to feel comfortable everywhere they go? “
Senior Joe Sanguinetti says “North Carolina is way overthinking this issue. What is the problem in someone going to the bathroom that they can feel comfortable in? The reason it’s not an issue here at U-32 or in the state of Vermont is because it’s not actually a problem. If it isn’t physically hurting anyone or a danger to anyone then why does it have to be that big of a deal?”
According to the Obama Administration who is now stepping in, telling every public school district in the country to allow transgender students to use the bathroom that matches their gender identity. This is no law or regulation but if the school does not follow what the Obama Administration has to say then they could face lawsuits and loss of their federal aid.
Around the country this is becoming more and more popular, schools making changes in order for students to feel safe and comfortable. Here in the building at U32 not many people even knew we had transgenders, so the Gender Neutral bathroom was no problem at all. In some other places like in North Carolina, and even at the Green Mountain Union High school in Chester Vermont it’s not getting brushed off that easy.
I think transgender people should be able to use whatever bathroom they feel comfortable in no matter if it is the girls the boys or the neutral bathroom. I also think the neutral bathrooms are incredibly important for those of us who identify as neither male nor female because I for one don’t feel comfortable using either.
I don’t understand why every time a problem is solved, a new issue must be brought up. Why don’t we just let everyone do what they feel safe doing as long as they are not taking advantage of the right. It is far better for society when we make progress, and adding rights, accepting people, that’s progress.
I think that the quotes used i this article were not accurate and somewhat offensive. I don’t believe that this needs to be made into a major topic and that gender neutral bathrooms are not needed. I believe that we need to make a culture that is accepting where people can use whatever bathroom they would like to.
I think that Denise Dalmasse’s comment that gender is “not that important” is pretty insensitive. Gender is a huge part of the identity of the individual, and to disregard it is insulting to many. That’s like dissing a part of someone’s identity.
I agree
I think that having a separate gender neutral bathroom is overthinking it. There should only be the boys and the girls bathroom, it doesn’t make sense to have a separate bathroom. If someone goes into that bathroom it will have more negative connotations about it. I think if you have a penis you should go to the boys room and if you have a vagina you should go to the girls room.
think I’ll just pee in the corner
I feel like Aidan did an excellent job remaining non-bias.
Its good that we’ve decided to add more gender neutral bathrooms so that everybody is comfortable. Its not fair for a guy to be using the bathroom and then having a girl who wants to be a guy walking in on them. I don’t think its right to do that, so that’s why it’s important that we give those people who want to change themselves a place to use the bathroom.
Trans boys aren’t “trying” to be boys they ARE boys. Another note being trans isn’t a choice any more than height or skin color.
I think that having a gender neutral bathroom is better than making someone use a bathroom with other people who maybe uncomfortable with their gender. This way everyone is happy and comfortable! Also, I think it is important that everyone who is involved gets a say and opinion.
I agree with this because I have friends that are transgender and my friend is really awesome and he understands